A COUPLE from Worcester who have had to cancel their wedding twice are hoping to make their third try a day to Never Forget by inviting Take That star Gary Barlow to sing at their reception.

Stuart Townsend and Sharon Grinnell have been together for 11 years and had originally planned to tie the knot in 2008. But they had to cancel the ceremony after Miss Grinnell suffered a stroke.

Although they set a second date for 2012, this too had to be cancelled after Mr Townsend was forced to undergo a long series of treatment for a tumour in his spine.

Contracts manager Mr Townsend, aged 36, said he had his fiance, of Whinfield Road, Northwick, were both massive fans of the 43-year-old X Factor judge and songwriter and decided to invite him to their Greatest Day after he sent out a series of Tweets to his 3.77 million followers on Saturday, January 3 saying he had decided to pick three fan's weddings to perform at this year.

"We were first supposed to get married in 2008 but when Sharon had her stroke in 2006 we had no idea how long it would take her to recover," he said.

"She was in the hospital for six months so we decided to scrap it. "Thankfully she did make a full recovery.

"We set the next one for December 12 2012 - the 12th of the 12th 2012 - but we didn't get to do that one either because of my tumour and all the things I had to go through."

He said their reception at The Diglis Hotel in Severn Street was booked for Friday, September 25 and he Prayed Mr Barlow would sing the Take That hit Rule the World for their first dance.

Mr Barlow, who was awarded an OBE in June 2012 for services to music and charity but the same month came under fire for his involvement in an alleged tax-avoidance scheme, said in his Tweets he receives thousands of requests to sing at a wedding every week.

"The only deal is they have to be HUGE fans," he wrote. "And all you have to do is stalk me on here."

As part of their campaign the couple have released a video of Mr Townsend singing the first few lines of Rule the World, before saying: "As you can see, I need your help mate", as well as a picture of their five-year-old son Finley holding up a sign saying 'Gary, please sing for my Mummy and Daddy'.

 

 

They are hoping readers of your Worcester News will help them realise their dream by tweeting Mr Barlow via @GaryBarlow using the hashtag #worcesterbride2b.

Mr Townsend said he had not been used to Twitter but had found himself forced to quickly get to grips with it so he could bombard Mr Barlow with messages.

"I've been tweeting, retweeting, favouriting, hashtagging and all of that stuff," he said.

Miss Grinnell, who works with Worcestershire’s community nursing team and has two children, 18-year-old Scott and 22-year-old Anna, from a previous relationship, said they support they had already received from friends and family had been “amazing”.

To get behind the couple tweet Mr Barlow via @GaryBarlow using the hashtag #worcesterbride2b.